Pune Warriors removed from Indian Premier League for payment default
Owned by the Sahara Group, the Pune Warriors have been on a collision course with the BCCI after the Board encashed its bank guarantee due to non-payment of the franchise fee.
The BCCI working committee on Saturday terminated its contract with Indian Premier League franchise Pune Warriors for defaulting on its payments to the Board. (Full statement)
Owned by the Sahara Group, Pune Warriors have been on a collision course with the BCCI after the Board encashed its bank guarantee due to non-payment of the franchise fee. The Sahara group announced its pull-out from the IPL after that, though the decision was yet to be formally conveyed to the BCCI, which wanted the team to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 170.2 crore to remain part of the league next year.
The BCCI, after reportedly reminding Sahara about the payment several times, has terminated the franchise from the IPL. All the governing council members of the IPL were invited for Saturday's meeting where the Board issued a 30-day termination notice to Pune Warriors.
Sahara have been demanding the completion of the arbitration proceedings on the issue of franchise fee, which it feels should be lowered since the BCCI did not deliver on its promised number of IPL matches for the team. The arbitration process has not yet started because of the differences between BCCI and Sahara over the judges to be appointed for it.
Pune, bought by Sahara for USD 370 million (approx Rs 1702 crore) in 2010, is the most expensive franchise on the IPL roster and its termination is likely to cause a substantial financial loss to the BCCI.
(with PTI inputs)